Amity Colosseum; Atlas, Remnant; August 8, 2018; 2:35 PM

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for the next Doubles Match! The next fighters are Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee of Team RWBY, with Robin Corvus and Tyrian Alastor of Team LRTC on the opposing side! Let the battle begin!"

Ruby and Weiss quickly made their way to the arena, with Tyrian and Robin taking their time.

'Remember the plan, Ruby. This is of utmost importance;' Flurry Heart had told her, "If and when you have to deal with Tyrian, push him to his absolute limit! If he tries anything, you take the Ray Gun mag stowed on you and shoot him. And if anything else happens, kill him. No matter what, do not let him reach Cinder!"

Right now, roughly half of Team Unity were at the exits with large cargo ships close by, while the other half stayed at Atlas Academy in case the remaining students or staff needed help.

Tyrian pulled out his rifles immediately while Robin kept her hand on her sheathed falchion. Weiss and Ruby held the similar stances as Tyrian did.

"Listen... Sorry to hear about what happened with your team.." Ruby sympathized.

"Thank you, but we're kinda about to fight, so.." Tyrian replied.

3...

2...

1...

"BEGIN!"

Ruby immediately lashed out at Tyrian, who ducked and shifted to evade Ruby's scythe. Ruby was honestly surprised to see someone with speed almost matching her's.

Almost, as in Ruby nicked Tyrian in the arm when he least expected it, he didn't wince or even let out any indication she got him. He merely looked at his arm, removed his shawl, and wrapped it around the 'wound'. He then charged at Ruby full tilt and leaped into the air.

Ruby fired the sniper-end of Crescent Rose at Tyrian, who flipped out of the way of the shot, ducked down and slid to avoid Ruby's attacks, and swept his leg under Ruby's and knocked her over.

Weiss and Robin seemed to be having a typical spar like most who fought in the tournament. But at that point, Ruby and Tyrian, it seemed, were fighting a duel to the death.

Ruby ducked to avoid Tyrian's attacks and sped back about 50 feet behind her. She braced herself and charged at him, full speed, to take him down.

A force-field enveloped Tyrian's rifles as they blocked the strike meant for his neck. He expanded the force-fields, repelling the scythe as he kicked Ruby in the side.

'It's weird.. Tyrian isn't trying to make me mad like he did with Yang.. ' Ruby thought as she sped at him again from behind.

Tyrian wasn't quick enough to evade and received a heavy punishment, numerous strikes that would've killed any normal person, followed by a cross-clip shot that hit him in the gut and forced him back at least 25 feet.

Tyrian panted, clutching the holes in his armor, all the while wearing an unusual look on his face.

"Ruby Rose is doing some surprisingly heavy damage against Tyrian! Even the other competitors are watching in awe!" the announcer yelled.

"D-Damn... I knew you'd be about as much of a challenge as your sister, but I didn't expect you to have improved this much..!" He gasped, clutching his stomach.

"Improved? What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

Tyrian looked as if he had just seen a ghost, his face turned stark white as he tried to recover.

"Let's stop messing around then and get back to the fight." Tyrian and Ruby had charged at the exact same instant, colliding with a rush of attacks.

*Meanwhile*

"Neo, you there?" Roman asked through a communicator.

"Yes?"

"Okay, remember the plan? We were supposed to be-"

"I know, Roman! Give me a second!" Neo indignantly yelled.

"Cinder is getting the most important bits and Ultimus' forces are almost ready! Find a way to stop that fight!" Roman ordered.

Neo needed a way to have the fighters distracted, even for a second, to stop dead in their tracks..

'Hmm.. 'Stop dead'.'

**

Tyrian and Ruby were locked in a strike-for-strike blitz, with Weiss and Robin watching the battle either shocked or intrigued.

The second Ruby went to reload, Tyrian seemed to raise his weapons and charge towards her. He was about to kill her!

Ruby loaded the Green Cross Mag she hid, load it and shot at the aggressive opponent before her.

Tyrian suddenly shattered like glass. The bullet never stopped it's course, going directly through Weiss, who stared blankly as she fell face first to the ground.

Ruby couldn't help but gaze forward, appalled at what she had done.

Tyrian himself, who had actually been at her right, also looked on in horror as he ran towards the wounded huntress.

"You okay, Weiss? Hang in there, soldier.. MEDIC!" Tyrian yelled as Robin quickly ran off.

For Ruby, everything seemed to be going in slow motion; Tyrian trying to help Weiss, the soldiers and medics streaming down towards the arena.. Had she really killed her own teammate?

The monitors surrounding the arena suddenly went to static as a black chess-piece emblem appeared on-screen.

"N-no..." Ruby gasped.

"Citizens of Atlas, This was no accident. This was no tragedy. This is what happens when you hand over your safety, and your trust, to those who claim to be the guardians of this vast multiverse. Our academies' headmasters, and even their students, wield more power than most military forces. How else were a ragtag group of misfits able to conquer a monstrous force like the Inquisition?" a dark, feminine voice spoke.

Tyrian stared, eyes glued to the screen, appearing to hold back sheer rage.

"They claim to defend the peace, yet what do we see here? One teammate blown apart by the other. What are Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood teaching their students? First, the deaths of three Huntsmen in training and now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses are supposed to carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither."

"T-That ruthless... callous...monster..!" Tyrian seethed under his breath, fidgeting in rage.

"Ozpin and his followers felt defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help cover up the fact that he has failed not once, not twice, but three whole times to save his kingdom when the Grimm and the Inquisition attacked. Or perhaps, this is another message entirely, a message to all of the huntsmen and huntresses, training or otherwise; Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Ruby finally came to her senses and listened to the jumbotron, staring in horror at what she was seeing.

"This can't be happening..." Ruby gasped in abject horror.

"Our kingdoms... Our worlds have been at the edge of an all-out war ever since the Blood Red Night ended, with our citizens kept in the dark.. So, when the first shots are fired, who can you trust?" The transmission went to static and eventually shut down.

Tyrian turned to the medic.

"There's nothing else we can do, sir. That round was too powerful.. She's gone." The medic sighed in despair.

Tyrian looked absolutely enraged, just barely able to hold back as his hair, once purple in color, glowed a bright orange and stood up before he finally composed himself, with his hair cooling down and particles flying off it like dust, leaving just some of his hair a dark-blonde color, and Ruby detected faint hints of a scar down his right eye.

Tyrian stormed off, untying the shawl from around his wound to his head.

*Meanwhile; Atlas Academy, Remnant; August 8, 2018; 2:45 PM

"GOD F**KING DAMMIT ALL!!" Cade threw a table clear across the room in complete rage.

"H-How was anyone able to do this..?" Blake gasped.

"I'm sure we can find some way to help-" Yang began.

"Dammit! History changed the second we showed up! Now everyone's about to die and I can't save anyone! Not even my own mothe-!" Cade stopped himself as soon as he realized who he was speaking to.

Yang stared on in surprise, shocked.

"...I-" Cade gasped.

"No. Just finish what you were going to say, Cade.." Yang demanded.

"Fine. I wasn't supposed to say this, but since Flurry went and gave herself up, I should too... Yang, you are my mother.. And Alex Walker..." Cade stammered.

"...I know.. I guess Alex really did change the future.." Yang interrupted, hugging Cade.

"I guess I can take off this contact, then.." Cade took off the contact lens on his good eye, revealing a deep blue iris, with a bright purple color around the pupil.

"So.. I guess it's true then..." Yang weakly smiled.

"Listen, we have to get everyone as far away from Atlas as possible and deal with the threat at hand. If Cinder lives, it's all over. I can't let that happen." Cade asserted

"I.. I don't understand... If Tyrian was really Cinder's mole, why would he run off to help Weiss..?" Blake tried to think the situation through.

"Me neither! It's almost like.... Oh, ponyfeathers.." Flurry Heart's eyes widened.

"What? Is something wrong..?" Kat asked from across the room, where she had been talking with Vanoss' other friends about what just happened.

"Think about it! If Tyrian wasn't the mole like we were thinking, then why would he just kill three other people out of the blue?!" Flurry yelled.

"I don't get it either! Maybe they did something to him personally, or.." Cade tried to think this through as well.

"Hold on, Lime told us that Tyrian fought in the Blood Red Night as well, right?" Blake asked.

"That's right, if Tyrian really was in that battle, he'd probably be against the Inquisitors." Yang figured.

"The problem is, Flurry and I looked through every document there was! And not once, and I mean not even once, was there ever a guy named Tyrian Alastor on either side!" Cade recalled.

"Shit.. Do you know what this means?!" Yang gasped.

"Not only were Lime, Russet, and Carmine the actual moles.." Nogla figured.

"Tyrian was undercover, but for our side!" Flurry realized immediately.

The ground suddenly began shaking, cups fell off the tables and shattered, TV sets tilted over and fell..

"The hell's going on outside?!" Delirious yelled.

"It looks like a swirling vortex of doom!" Mini noted.

They were right, a large, swirling, white vortex spread itself across the sky, expanding and expanding before it looked like it had spread at least across the city.

"Why the hell is there a swirling vortex of doom in the sky?" Nogla asked loudly.

"F**k... This is happening exactly the way history went..." Cade worriedly muttered.

"You knew this would happen?!" Delirious screamed.

"If there's a vortex of that size... Then that means..!" Flurry realized.

The vortex opened up suddenly, massive amounts of rock, metal, and explosive fell from the sky onto the city below. The biggest object to fall was a massive aircraft carrier, destroyed, seemingly, in battle. Yang noticed just in time the massive lettering on the side of the ship.

"T-The Illiad?!" She gasped.

"Of course... The Inquisitors' experimental dimensional gate...Cinder must have found where all of it went..." Flurry recalled.

"Get down, now!" Mini yelled, diving for cover as everyone else did the same.

A massive amount of debris fell on top of the school, some of it even breaking through the roof and into the school.

"That entire island is falling on top of us!!" Yang screamed as a canister hit the ground, blowing up the wall that led outside.

The group suddenly heard a loud, heavy buzzing sound as numerous ships landed in front of the school, carrying with them at least a hundred armed Adenienite Battle Drones.

Leading the charge was a tall, armored Adenienite wearing a thick, black cape and what almost looked like a mechanical welding helmet.

"What's the matter? Did I catch you children by surprise?" The figure asked sardonically.

The group stood up, arming themselves best as they could.

"Delirious, get the as many people as you can to the school entrance. The four of us will stay here." Yang ordered.

Delirious, Mini, Kat, Nogla, and others charged towards the exit, shooting as many of the battle drones as they could.

"Where is Saigo Emphas?!" The Adenienite bellowed.

"Who's asking?!" Yang retorted, getting ready for the fight of her life.

"I am Ultimus Crux, rival to the Emphas family and second-in-command to Cinder Fall's organization. And you are all in my way."

Author's Notes:

Welp. Tyrian might not be who everyone thinks, Cade is actually another iteration of Alpha, and Cinder's still a sociopath.
A bit of warning, things are going to get a bit 'Volume 3'-ish.

-The Destoyer